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Veteran Free-Agent Contracts Cowboys Must Consider Before Training Camp – Kristopher Knox, Bleacher Report
If the Cowboys want to help ease in third-round pick DeMarvion Overshown, a veteran like Deion Jones makes sense.
LB Deion Jones
Shortly after taking Smith, the Cowboys added linebacker DeMarvion Overshown in the third round. While the Texas product may be able to have an early impact, it’ll likely be in coverage rather than as an every-down run-stopper.
“Overshown struggles to take on blocks from guards and centers and occasionally will get pushed around by running backs and tight ends,” Holder wrote. “Ultimately, his slender 220-pound frame won’t cut it against the run in the NFL.”
With a focus on improving the run defense, Dallas would be wise to take a long look at linebacker Deion Jones.
Jones—who previously played under defensive coordinator Dan Quinn with the Atlanta Falcons—is still a very sound all-around defender. He appeared in 11 games for the Cleveland Browns in 2022, finishing with 44 tackles, 2.5 sacks and an interception. He was credited with only four missed tackles last season, per Pro Football Reference.
In 2021, Jones racked up 137 tackles and two sacks.
System familiarity could be a factor here. Jones knows what Quinn likes to do defensively, and he’d have an easier time than most joining the team just before training camp and finding a fit. Of course, it also helps that the 28-year-old is still a productive player.
AIKMAN OFFERS SIMPLE REASON FOR COWBOYS’ POST-SEASON STRUGGLES – Shane Taylor, Inside The Star
Will the Cowboys and 49ers meet again for the third straight year in the playoffs?
“The organization has done a fantastic job. I think the coaches have done a great job. The players. All of it. They have won a lot of games,” Aikman told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
He went on to utter exactly what all of us fans have over the last 20 years.
It’s the fact that the Cowboys could play better when it matters the most… In the playoffs.
“The problem for them, and they don’t need me to tell them this, they just have not played their best football when the games have mattered the most,” Aikman said.
Dallas has made the playoffs five of the last nine seasons and have had over double-digit wins in four of those nine years.
Despite all that, they have only won five times in the playoffs since the year I was born, 1996. Resulting in the 28-year title drought.
WHAT NEEDS TO CHANGE
That is the golden question.
What can Dallas do to get the monkey off their back? Aikman, like most, doesn’t have a clear-cut answer for that either.
He says the teams he was a part of in the 90s succeeded because they played their best football in the biggest games.
Cowboys corner market with not 1, not 2, but 3 of NFL’s top slot defenders – KD Drummond, The Cowboys Wire
The Cowboys defense has only gotten better around him, but Jayron Kearse emerging as a leader in the secondary is huge for Dan Quinn’s scheme.
The uniqueness of how Quinn places his chess pieces has resulted in them having not one, but two different players identified among the league’s best in defending the slot entering 2023, per Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar.
2023 No. 2. Jayron Kearse, Dallas Cowboys
Like a lot of players in Dan Quinn’s defenses over the years, Kearse found himself with a coach attuned enough to his skills to put him in the best place to succeed. That was a whole lotta slot for Kearse in 2022, and he allowed 18 catches on 23 slot targets last season for 170 yards, 116 yards after the catch, no touchdowns, two interceptions, and an opponent passer rating of 61.2.
Kearse’s journey from a seventh-round pick with the Vikings to being a leader in the secondary for Dallas has been remarkable. He’s a physically-imposing presence capable of impacting the game with both his coverage skills and intimidating demeanor. While he seems to always be nursing an in-game injury, he someone always returns to the field to continue his exemplary play.
Role Call: Asim Richards’ OL Versatility Will Be Key – Patrik Walker, DallasCowboys.com
The fifth round was later than most expected Dallas to address the offensive line, but they found a versatile prospect with high upside in Asim Richards.
What’s Next: The answer to this depends on what Richards shows in camp when the Cowboys move him from one position to another on the offensive line, because while he can play guard, he made a name for himself as a left tackle, where he allowed only three sacks on more than 1,000 snaps in 2022.
Bet You Didn’t Know: Richards had one more year of eligibility with the Tar Heels but opted to enter the NFL instead, and wouldn’t you know it? He ends up with the Dallas Cowboys. Why is that significant? Well, it’s because he was born and raised in Philadelphia; and that means in a family full of Eagles fans (but he says they aren’t anymore).
Quotable: “[My brother] wanted to move to Dallas. He has been wanting to move to Dallas. And so, he was like, ‘Yeah I think you’re going to go to Dallas.’ He had a feeling and I’m like, ‘I don’t know bro’, but he was right.” – Asim Richards
3 best Cowboys players who never made a Pro Bowl – Maitland Rutledge, The Landry Hat
The Robin to Michael Irvin’s batman never got recognized with a Pro Bowl nod.
2. Alvin Harper
This is a guy more fans might remember. When you think of great receiving duos, most might remember Lynn Swann and John Stallworth or Jerry Rice and John Taylor. For the early 1990s, Michael Irvin and Alvin Harper made a great receiving duo.
Harper was drafted by Dallas in the first round of the 1991 draft and was immediately expected to complement Irvin as the Cowboys continued to build their championship contending team. While his rookie season was uneventful, Harper’s 1992 season produced some iconic moments.
In the NFC Championship game against the 49ers he caught a slant pass from Troy Aikman and went 70 yards to set up the game-clinching touchdown. He finished the year with 562 yards and four touchdowns to help the Cowboys win their first championship of the 1990s.
After an even better 1993 season that helped Dallas win another Super Bowl, Harper had his best season in 1994 with 821 yards and eight touchdowns. While fellow receiver Irvin and tight end Jay Novacek were named to the Pro Bowl roster, Harper was left off. Despite his breakout season, the other receivers named to the team each cracked 1,000 yards, something Harper never did during his career.
Harper might not have been one of the most dynamic receivers in Cowboys’ history, but he was a key contributor on the first two Super Bowl teams during that era. He was a reliable target in Dallas’ passing game and made defenses recognize they have to cover him just as much as Irvin. A Pro Bowl nod for Harper should have at least come in 1994.
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